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Monday, July 5, 2010

new design walls!

UPDATE

if i have not heard from my party guest winners by 7/10... i will have to void your win... and replace your position with the next winner. thanks and i hope you all can understand the need to wrap this party up! :)

i lOVE three day weekends!!! especially when you get to hang out with your family and have your hubby's help with a great, big list of huney do's! LOL... there were many accomplished this weekend... but i thought i'd share my favorite one today! my new design walls!!!
( new quilt & pillow top for a special friends house warming gift! a tut coming soon for this easy FQ quilt top! )

aaron helped me make two... and they were so easy and turned out so functional... i want 10 more! i had been looking at Ashley's for a while ( her's looked very firm and not just hanging on the wall like mine or the floor for that matter... which is soooOOooo not functional at my house )... but i always ran into the same concern about hers and my current one... and that's... the big, fat concern of... well, what if i'm not ready to sew this quilt together right now and need more thinking time on it??? do i pull it off and revisit it later, so i can move onto the other five hundred or so ideas in my head??? how can these design walls give me more options, but in a small space without removing my current work... plus... hold up nicely???
that brought me to these!! one you can see has already been covered in batting.. the other was waiting for her turn ;)

Supplies:
- two sheets (8 X 4ft) of Pink Panther fiber board sheeting { that we bought at Home Depot for $20.00 each }... these are 3 inches thick, very dense, and incredibly light weight.
- one can of spray adhesive ( we bought the store brand at Home Depot )
- batting ( i bought warm & natural on white on the roll at Fabric Depot w/ a coupon of course!! 3.5 yards )
- and a staple gun (if you've got one... this is just for extra hold... the project would work with out it too!)
- a couple saw horses ( to hold your board while covering it )
- a exacto knife
we first cut off one foot of height from 8ft to 7ft ( since our house has 8ft ceilings ) with our exacto knife.
next... (after laying them on top of our saw horses )... all we did was spread the batting over the fiber board ( by rolling the batting over it while spraying adhesive and wiping out all the wrinkles of the batting in the same process! easy peasy ) it's just like sandwiching a quilt together with spray!
then... we flipped our board over and neatly ( like wrapping a present ) sprayed the batting in place and secured the corners with a few staples.

wall - lah!!

the end result was two... very sturdy, very light weight (for easy transport or storage), stackable, and generous sized fabric design walls ( combined 7 X 8ft )!
and yes... ashley was right... by having them in my dinning area... it is really like having a moving art piece in your house ( which we love on a daily bases )... but with this method, i can easy move them into my bedroom for storage if special events require me to do so.. IE: Christmas dinner ;)
P.S.
A good friend of mine contacted me about his design wall he made and he had some good tips… so I thought I’d share those too!! :)
Per Ryan ( I’m just a guy who Quilts )
I used a 1" thick piece. Not sure what other thickness' they had. I would go thicker if I buy another. I have 2 now. The boards are really light weight and really easy to move around the room. One word of caution though is that if you like to open up your windows in the room, sometimes if the breeze gets strong, they board will blow over.
I discovered that if you use regular round head pins you could stick them all the way through and they came out the other side. It makes it hard if you want to stack them to put away for storage (with your blocks attached) because you would have to leave the pins sticking out a little. You had to be careful of how you stacked them.
If you use the short appliqué pins you could stick them all the way in so they are flush with the board and they don't go through. Your blocks can stay right on them and you can stack them against each other for coming back to later!
i also had enough time to escape for a bit and hang out with two very dear friends... miss Terri and miss Joan. of course being local Portlander's... we had to swing by Fabric Depot for some retail therapy and then off to lunch we went! i had such a good time visiting with my crafting friends... (i adore my real life friends, but they don't get my obsession like my virtual ones!! haha...)
and of course being them... they brought me birthday gifts! miss Terri brought me this fabulous linen bag, based off of my favorite vintage Pyrex design ( friendship )... she is seriously talented! let's just leave it at that!! LOL
and of course she filled it with wonderful goodies ( all in my favorite colors! ) she's such a dollface!!
and miss Joan was more than generous with a 1/2 yard set of Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey! i actually ( i know, i know ) didn't have this line yet and am a little bit more than excited to cut into it!! thanks you girls you all made my week!! :)
i sure hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend that was full of family and crafts!!
XO, Heather

31 comments:

Hi Heather. Just checking in at all my favorite blogs for a little inspiration... thanks for sharing these pics. I am in desperate need of a design wall, and I like that these are big and portable. I may have to make one and will definitely pass this info along to a friend that wants to make one. Thanks!

Oh, I'm so glad you shared the info on your new design walls so quickly. I can't wait to make some too. I was going to just staple up some batting (I was getting so desperate), but I love the nicer look and portability of these. Once my in-laws are gone, Steve and I are making a little trip to home depot. Thanks for sharing!

The designs boards are great! I made a mini design wall (got the biggest picture frame they had a Joann's--60% off so it only cost $19.99) and wrapped the picture backing (which turned out to be nice sturdy masonite) with batting, and hung it up on my wall. Not as large as yours, but still helpful...

You read my mind! I've been trying to figure out how to make a design wall, just tack some felt up on the wall or WHAT? But you answered my question! I never thought of a board that moves, brilliant! Would felt work just as well? I was thinking it might be cheaper, though I do have an entire roll of batting, I just like to save it! You're my hero.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your design walls!! There's a quilt I want to make, but I need a design wall first (or else I'll lose my mind trying to keep the pieces straight). I think we'll make a trip to Home Depot next weekend.

Just love the idea of these design walls - being new to quilting I've never seen them before. What a GREAT idea! It would certainly free up some space in our house - or stop the frustration when I have to pick them all up of the floor! x

Seeing your design wal finally kicked my butt into gear to finish that particular project. Boy am I glad I did. Ive already got projects up on it :) Mine is no portable however. It is affixed to the blank wall in my bed room courtesy of my dad. Woohoo. Thanks for getting my butt into gear... now I just need to go get some more fabric

This is a fabulous tutorial and added helpful hints. I have wanted a design wall, and just getting to a place in quilting, where I can really use one. :o) Thank you for posting and adding the shopping list. This will really make it simple to do. :o)Have a great weekend.Sincerely ~ Trish

Hi Heather! O.K. So I love these boards and was all ready to copy you TODAY and have one question before I begin. I talked to a guy at our Home Depot and he said that any spray adhesive will make the foam board start to "melt" or kind of break down. He showed me a sample and I was all confused because you obviously didn't seem to have a problem with yours. So I just wanted to see if you had any problems with the board starting to warp or bow? I bought the stuff you said - the pink panther fiberboard sheets but I just got scared after I talked to him. Thought I'd see if you have any thoughts on this matter before I went forward with this?

Thanks and I can't wait to get these babies done. I really need them so thank you for the tutorial!

As you said "Thank God for a three day weekend", I am definitely going to Home Depot tomorrow to get my supplies. Thank you for sharing - I am so excited to layout out my first quilt and free up my guest bed!

I'm a bit late to the commenting here...Just found you via another site and that one via another site...I have a design wall that's "permanent"---I stapled batting on my wall and then a huge piece of flannel on that. I use the spray basting to hang my stuff up, though I'll also use pins if I want them up for a longer period of time. I love the idea of a portable design..would love to NOT have a cramped sewing room (because I need to leave one wall free)!

Oh, and I'm a Fabric Depot lover, too! Getting that batting there with a 40% off coupon---the bomb!

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